Background

Steve Milloy was most recently the Director of External Policy and Strategy at Murray Energy Corp, which claims to be the largest privately-owned coal producer in the United States. He held the position from October 2013 until May 2015. Milloy is the publisher of the websites JunkScience.com, a former columnist for Fox News [2], co-creator and manager of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, an adjunct scholar with the right-wing think-tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the president of the business consulting firm Steven J. Milloy, Inc. [3] Milloy is also a Senior Policy Fellow at the Environment and Energy Legal Institute. [33]

On his website, Steve “The Junkman” Milloy proclaims himself a pioneer fighting against “faulty scientific data used to advance special, and often hidden, agendas.”

Steve Milloy has been associated with the major American tobacco companies since at least 1997. In 1997, he took over as the executive director of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), a front group set up by Philip Morris in 1993 and run by the public relations firm APCO& Associates.

The main objective of TASSC was to question the science showing detrimental effects of cigarette smoke. The idea was for TASSC to create an extensive grassroots campaign where it would be promoted as a legitimate scientific source.

The coalition created materials and reprinted news articles to distribute to TASSC audiences, found “appropriate scientists/spokespeople” to participate in and promote the coalition's message, and established a nationwide media tour defaming “unsound science” on radio and television and in newspapers. According to PRWatch.org, Philip Morris budgeted $880,000 for TASSC in 1994. [4]

When Steve Milloy took over as executive director of TASSC in 1997, he citedTASSC-sponsored website Junkscience.com, of which he was also publisher, as a tool in promoting the coalition's message. [5]

Philip Morris quietly retired TASSC in 1998. However, according to Tim Lambert's Deltoid blog and TheNew Republic, Steve Milloy was still under contract as a consultant with Philip Morris through 2005. In both 2000 and 2001 Milloy charged Philip Morris $92,500 in fees and expenses for his consulting work. [6]

Stance on Climate Change

In the 2006 article, “The Greenhouse Myth,” Steve Milloy stated that the “doubling of atmospheric CO2 from pre-Industrial Revolution days might increase global temperature from between 0.5 degrees Centigrade to 1.5 degrees Centigrade – that is, not much.” He went on to declare that anthropogenic climate change is not based on “actual temperature measurements and greenhouse physics – rather it comes from manmade computer models relying on myriad assumptions and guesswork.”[7]

Key Quotes

June, 2015

“I think it [the encyclical] is going to be a big mistake for him [Pope Francis]. I think he is going to come out with a document that is going to be ripped to shreds.” [36]

“Coal is ground-zero in the environmental wars, and it is the most important battle that we’re fighting today. The overarching eco-myth that I will debunk is the one about coal being a dirty form of energy that our country can do without. First, I am going to talk about the need for coal and then discuss the wanton and reckless smearing and elimination of it. The coal industry helps generate about 40% of the U.S.’ electricity. Coal makes the lowest cost and most reliable electricity. The coal industry, directly or indirectly, employs about 800,000 people, generates 50 billion dollars in labor income, and contributes about 100 billion dollars to GDP. Yet, these impressive statistics don’t somehow come close to doing justice to the benefits America, and the world, derive from the tremendous natural resource that is coal, of which we are blessed to have a several hundred-year supply.” [34]

At 39:52 Milloy goes on to say:

“Of the many guises of the “War on Coal,” global warming is perhaps the most used excuse… Simple math shows that the Obama war on coal, for purposes of climate control, is futile. Even if U.S.’ CO2 emissions stopped today and were to be zero for the remainder of this century, atmospheric CO2 levels would only decrease by about 3%. There would be no measurable impact on global climate, at a cost of 25% of global GDP. We can debate the science of global warming to our heart’s content, and we should, but the reality is worldwide hydrocarbon use is increasing. By itself, China is adding the equivalent of the entire U.S. coal fleet between now and 2020, India is adding 71 gigawatts of coal power between now and 2018—almost as much as the Obama EPA has already shuttered. Obama’s unilateral actions are all based on “junk science” that will accomplish nothing except hurt our standard of living, devastate coal communities, raise electricity prices for all, and cause power outages.” [34]

June 21, 2012

“There's really only about 25 of us doing this. A core group of skeptics. It's a ragtag bunch, very Continental Army. I'm happy to be a denier.” [32]

“Our opposition to global warming alarmism is based on three points. First, we don't believe the available scientific data indicate that human activity is measurably changing global climate - history shows that natural climate change can be far more significant than any slight change in climate that may have occurred over the last 200 years.

“Second, even if human activity is altering global climate to some extent, such climate change might actually be beneficial - historically, civilization has fared better in warmer climatic conditions as opposed to cooler climatic conditions.

“Third, even if humans are undesirably affecting global climate, the best path forward may be adaptation to that climate change rather than harming the global economy through the expenditure of hundreds of billion dollars under the questionable rationale that greenhouse gas regulation can act as some sort of global thermostat.” [9]

“When the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, air pollution in the U.S. was more of an aesthetic than a public health problem. That is even more the case today. Few people realize this after 30 years of non-stop junk science-fueled alarmism from environmental activists.” [10]

Key Deeds

March, 2015

Steve Milloy is one of several climate change skeptics cc'd on an email from S. Fred Singer in hopes of countering the documentary film “Merchants of Doubt,” which exposes the network of climate change skeptics and deniers trying to delay legislative action on climate change.

The October, 2014 email was leaked to journalists before the documentary was released. “Can I sue for damages?” Singer asked in the email. “Can we get an injunction against the documentary?”

InsideClimate News reports in their article “Leaked Email Reveals Who's Who List of Climate Denialists,” how “Many of those copied on the email thread, such as Singer and communications specialist Steven Milloy, have financial ties to the tobacco, chemical, and oil and gas industries and have worked to defend them since the 1990s.” [35]

InsideClimate News also documented all those who were cc'd on the email, including the following skeptics and groups:

Milloy attends a White House meeting at the Federal Department of Labor on behalf of Murray Energy Corp alongside other coal industry personnel and lobbyists to discuss proposed rule changes by the Mine Safety and Health Administration aimed at reducing miners' exposure to coal dust.

The meeting is to discuss proposed changes to MSHA rules to lower acceptable levels of respirable dust in mines to reduce the risk of workers contracting potentially fatal Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis - also known as black lung disease - and other diseases.

In a follow-up letter, Murray Energy Corporation Corporate Safety Director Pat Brady claimed the proposals, which also included the use of continuos personal dust monitors, were unworkable and would put jobs and coal production in “substantial jeopardy”.

October 15, 2013

Milloy joins Murray Energy Corp, the largest privately-owned coal producer in the United States, as Director of External Policy and Strategy. As of at least March 7 2014, the position goes undeclared on Milloy's biography on his JunkScience.com website.

December 2012

Milloy joins the American Tradition Institute (now renamed the Energy and Environment Legal Institute) as a senior policy fellow. The ATI and E&E Legal has launched a series of Freedom of Information requests to obtain records and emails from climate scientists and environmental regulators.

January 27, 2012

Milloy will appear in the movie An Inconsistent Truth, hosted by radio talk show host Phil Valentine and directed by Shayne Edwards. The movie suggests that “everything you've been told about global warming is a lie,” and appears focused on discrediting Al Gore.

Milloy was criticized for his “Carbon Criminal” campaign that had displayed members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership who had campaigned for cap and trade in congress on “Wanted' posters. [12]

March, 2008

Milloy attended the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC1), and was also offered up by the Institute as an “expert” available for contact. [13]

November 8, 2007

DemandDebate.com conducted a “survey of IPCC Climate Experts” (PDF). According to the website, “The survey results indicate that when asked routine questions about the climatic role of manmade CO2, the IPCC scientists surveyed responded for the most part with the Pavlovian manmade-CO2-is-bad view seemingly demanded of them by the IPCC. But when you ask questions that are off the usual script, the supposed consensus seems to readily fall apart.” [14]

Scholars & Rogues investigated the survey and found that the presentation of the survey data was included “obvious bias,” and gave readers the “correct” interpretation of the data, which suggested that the survey may not have been as even and balanced as claimed. They also looked at individual questions presented in the survey, and found that some were “specifically designed to produce results that can be spun by DemandDebate.com and Mr. Milloy for they own political ends.” [15]

October, 2007

Milloy's project DemandDebate.com produces a video juxtaposing scenes from the Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth” with interviews with climate science sceptics, mostly taken from the film “The Global Warming Swindle”.

The website project, which appears to have only been active for a year or so with very little content, claimed its mission was “educating and empowering students and parents to eliminate bias in environmental education”.

The DemandDebate website also sold t-shirts with the slogan “I'm more worried about the intellectual climate” and offered resource kits to parents and teachers, which appeared to consist of copies of documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle”, a film about the “dark side of environmentalism” and a book called “The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK To Chill about Global Warming” written by Holly Fretwell.

July 7, 2007

Milloy engineered what he called the “'Live Earth' Invasion” and “air raid” where he sponsored a group of college students to attend the Live Earth concert and distribute DemandDebate.com's message. [1]

This consisted of distributing DebandDebate.com beach balls, and sending an airplane with the banner “Don't Believe Al Gore. DemandDebate.com” that flew over the event just as Al Gore walked on stage. See their video here. [16]

February, 2006

On behalf of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, Milloy drafted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the first climate skeptic shareholder resolution over the challenge of the General Electric Co.

The Free Enterprise Action Fund had called on GE to stop advocating global warming regulation:

“'We're not sure GE's management performed the necessary due diligence before embracing the global warming hypothesis,' said Milloy. 'We asked management for its global warming assessment but management never responded to our request. We hope shareholders will take advantage of our resolution and send GECEO Jeff Immelt the message that company policy on global warming must be supported by factual analysis, not executive bias.'” [17]

The resolution didn’t pass at the shareholder meeting, but had enough votes for GE to include it on the ballot for the following year. Milloy also defended the global warming resolution in 2007 and 2008.[18], [19]

October, 1999

Milloy bought up the web domain http://www.cop5.orgin advance of a United Nations climate meeting in Bonn, also known as COP5, and redirects the address to his JunkScience.com website.

April 1998

Representatives from the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Exxon Corporation and The Southern Company join with a number of conservative think tank operatives to form the Global Climate Science Communications Team. Steve Milloy is a member of the team, representing The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition.

In documents unearthed by Greenpeace, the GCSCT group devises a communications plan, estimated to cost at least $2 million, which aimed to make climate change a “non-issue” by reaching out to media and the public.

Unless 'climate change' becomes a non-issue, meaning that the Kyoto proposal is defeated and there are no further initiatives to thwart the threat of climate change, there may be no moment when we can declare victory for our efforts.

February 16, 1996

Milloy registered JunkScience.com. According to PR Watch, Milloy then began calling himself “the Junkman,” and “he offered daily attacks on environmentalists, public health and food safety regulators, anti-nuclear and animal rights activists, and a wide range of other targets that he accused of using unsound science to advance various political agendas.” [4]

The JunkScience.com describes “Junk Science” as “faulty scientific data and analysis used to advance special interests and hidden agendas.” The website features a prominent picture of Michael Mann with the header “Hide the Decline” and “Mann-Made Global Warming.” [20]

Science Without Sense: The Risky Business of Public Health Research, Cato Institute, 1996

His other books are titled Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them (Regnery Publishing, 2009) and Science-Based Risk Assessment: A Piece of the Superfund Puzzle which was published by the National Environmental Policy Institute in 1995.

"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ BRYAN WALSH, TIME MAGAZINE

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